One-wheeled roller skate



March 19, 1968 s LEWIS ONE-WHEELED ROLLER SKATE Filed June 3, 1966 FIG.3

INVENTDR. SAMUEL. LEWIS BY 6% M M AGENTS United States Patent Ofilice 3,374,002 Patented Mar. 19, 1968 3,374,002 ONE-WHEELED ROLLER SKATE Samuel Lewis, 670 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10031 Filed June 3, 1966, Ser. No. 555,106 2 Claims. (Cl. 280-1114) This invention relates to sports equipment, and particularly to a roller skate.

Conventional roller skates are, in effect, four-wheeled carriages that are strapped "to the feet of the wearer. Because the four wheels cannot be steered directly, the two axles which respectively carry a pair of wheels are commonly mounted in rubber blocks which permit limited angular displacement of the axles against the resilient resistance of the rubber. The movements possible to a skater without lifting the conventional roller skate from the ground are still severely limited, and roller skates do not provide the wide variety of movements available with ice skates, particularly with figure skates Whose blades are arcuately bent upward at the front end.

It is the object of the invention to provide roller skates whose range of available movements is approximately as wide as that of ice skates of the type described.

A supplemental object is the provision of roller skates which are very simple and rugged, inexpensive, and free from maintenance trouble.

With these and other objects in view, the invention in its more specific aspects provided a roller skate that has but one wheel. The wheel is secured to a supporting plat form by a bracket in such a manner that the axis of rotation of the wheel is approximately parallel to the platform, and the median plane of the platform passes through the wheel transversely of the axis. Means are provided for securing the foot of the wearer to the platform in a position in which the foot is elongated substantially parallel to the platform and to its median plane.

Whereas the platform of a conventional skate has a length which is much greater than the width, the supporting platform of my skate need not be substantially longer than it is wide, and its length need not be substantially greater than twice the diameter of the wheel.

The exact nature of this invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will be readily apparent from consideration of the following description of a preferred embodiment relating to the annexed drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows a roller skate of the invention in side elevation;

FIG. 2 shows the skate of FIG. 1 in front elevational section on the line II--II;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the skate; and

FIG. 4 shows the skate mounted on a boot in the normal operating position, the view being in side elevation.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, there is shown a flat rectangular steel plate 1 to the underside of which a bracket 2 is welded. The bracket holds a shaft 3 in a position parallel to the plate 1. The sole wheel 4 is mounted on the shaft 3 for rotation in a median plane of the plate 1 as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Jaws 5 project from the top surface of the plate 1 on either side of the median plane through openings 6 in the plate 1. They define channels which are elongated at right angles to the shaft 3 and are open toward each other. A fixed lug 7 on the underside of the plate 1 rotatably receives the center of a spindle 8 which is parallel to the shaft 3 and secured against axial movement by shoulders 9 on either side of the lug 7. The portions of the spindle 8 projecting from the lug 7 are provided with a right-hand thread and a left-hand thread respectively in a conventional manner. They threadedly engage respective portions of the jaws 5. The ends of the spindle 8 are of square cross section, and openings 10 in the bracket 2 give access to a key for moving the jaws 5 toward and away from each other in the direction of the shaft 3.

FIG. 4 shows a boot 11 worn by a skater, not himself illustrated. The jaws 5 are clamped to the sole of the boot approximately under the metatarsal joints of the wearer. When it is desired to skate complex figures on my one-wheeled roller skate, the foot or leg or both are flexed so that the sole slopes downward from the heel 12 toward the skate, as shown in FIG. 4, and the wheel 4 is aligned with the center of gravity of the body in a direction which deviates from the vertical by an amount depending on the speed of forward movement. When the skater stands still, he may place the heel 12 on the ground.

It is surprisingly simple to maintain balance on the one-wheeled skate of my invention. A person familiar with the use of ice skates can perform almost immediately on the one-wheeled skate. Others learn more quickly to use the one-wheeled skate than it would take them to learn skating on ice.

A cast-iron wheel of a type conventional in roller skates has been illustrated in the drawing. It will be appreciated that a cork composition wheel of the type normally used on wood-floored rinks is also suitable in the skate of my invention, and the wheel may have a tire of toroid shape instead of the cylindrical tread illustrated.

Many other modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What I claim is:

1. A roller skate comprising, in combination:

(a) support means defining a supporting platform;

(b) awheel;

(c) bracket means securing said wheel. to said support means for rotation about an axis substantially parallel to said platform, said platform having a medium plane transverse of said axis through said wheel; and

(d) securing means for securing the foot of a wearer to said platform in a position in which said foot is elongated substantially parallel to said platform and to said plane,

(e) said support means including a plate member, said bracket means being fixedly mounted on one side of said plate member,

(f) said securing means including two jaw members mounted on said plate member and :projecting from the other side of said plate member on opposite sides of said median plane, and

(g) adjusting means for moving said jaw member relative to each other on said plate member in the direction of said axis,

(h) the dimension of said platform in the direction of said median plane being not substantially greater than the width of said platform in the direction of said axis.

2. A skate as set forth in claim 1, wherein said dimension of the platform is not substantially greater than twice the diameter of said wheel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,332,702 3/1920 Wisniewski 28011.l9 1,778,850 10/1930 Duisenberg 280-1l.'22

FOREIGN PATENTS 46,970 3/1911 Austria.

1,686 of 1897 Great Britain.

RICHARD J. JOHNSON, Primary Examiner. MILTON L. SMITH, Examiner. 

1. A ROLLER SKATE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: (A) SUPPORT MEANS DEFINING A SUPPORTING PLATFORM; (B) A WHEEL; (C) BRACKET MEANS SECURING SAID WHEEL TO SAID SUPPORT MEANS FOR ROTATION ABOUT AN AXIS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID PLATFORM, SAID PLATFORM HAVING A MEDIUM PLANE TRANSVERSE OF SAID AXIS THROUGH SAID WHEEL; AND (D) SECURING MEANS FOR SECURING THE FOOT OF A WEARER TO SAID PLATFORM IN A POSITION IN WHICH SAID FOOT IS ELONGATED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID PLATFORM AND TO SAID PLANE, (E) SAID SUPPORT MEANS INCLUDING A PLATE MEMBER, SAID BRACKET MEANS BEING FIXEDLY MOUNTED ON ONE SIDE OF SAID PLATE MEMBER, (F) SAID SECURING MEANS INCLUDING TWO JAW MEMBERS MOUNTED ON SAID PLATE MEMBER AND PROJECTING FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF SAID PLATE MEMBER ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID MEDIAN PLANE, AND (G) ADJUSTING MEANS FOR MOVING SAID JAW MEMBER RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER ON SAID PLATE MEMBER IN THE DIRECTION OF SAID AXIS, (H) THE DIMENSION OF SAID PLATFORM IN THE DIRECTION OF SAID MEDIAN PLANE BEING NOT SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER THAN THE WIDTH OF SAID PLATFORM IN THE DIRECTION OF SAID AXIS. 